Fran Capo on Sharks, Kilimanjaro, & Staying Motivated

Fran Capo is the Fastest Talking Woman in the world, an adventure traveler who lives life to the fullest and funny funny funny. Traveling Mom got her whole story in a record 15 minutes – just before Fran hit the Momedy™ stage.

TMOM: Let’s talk about the sharks. Did you take your son with you?

FRAN CAPO: No. But he did climb Kilimanjaro with me.

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TMOM: Wait, let’s talk about the shark thing. Was your son a teenager?FRAN CAPO: Well, I did it two times. The first time he wasn’t even born yet. The second time he was older.

TMOM: Weren’t you afraid of not coming back and being there for your son?

FRAN CAPO: No. If you tell your kid to live life like nothing is impossible, how can you all of the sudden become a mom and stop living the life that you want to?These are calculated risks. I wouldn’t jump into water and I see a bunch of sharks in there. Obviously you have to be with an organization that’s done shark dives before. I check the diver and he has all of his limbs, it’s safe. Besides they’re running a business,not good if the guest divers get eaten.

TMOM: What has your son done with you?

FRAN CAPO: He climbed Kilimanjaro with me, was 15 at the time, one of the youngest climbers to do it. He’s done the polar bear plunge, panning for gold, hot air ballooning, kayaking, canoeing, skiing, spelunking, basically anything that I feel is safe within his age range plus he’s very athletic, so he’s a good on these adventures. Now I’m starting to take my niece who’s eight on adventures. I just took her swimming with the manatees, and on a helicopter tour of NYC… I believe you should always teach people especially children…that anything is possible….and to go for the fullest experience in life.

TMOM: When your son was younger and you would travel, how would you stay connected with him?FRAN CAPO: I didn’t leave him, he came with me. My mother would go on the road with me, and if I was on stage she would watch him….I didn’t want to be an absentee mom letting someone else like a nanny raise my kid. I brought him into this world and it’s my job to take care of him. I got divorced when Spencer was 4 months old.

TMOM: Oh, that’s right you are a single mom.

FRAN CAPO: Yeah, so I thought since he wasn’t in school yet that the road, the world, would be his school… He even did stand up. He was the world’s youngest comic. It was his idea not mine. Not one of those stage mom’s. He saw me onstage at the Tropicana in Vegas…he was two at the time, and he says..”Mommy I want to go onstage.” I said, “You don’t have an act!” He said, I want to try it. The manager overheard and said give the kid a shot. So I quickly gave him three impressions to do. I was emceeing…so I brought him out on stage as a special guest. He got laughs…and from then on he was hooked. He’s in the Ripley’s Believe it or Not- Planet Eccentric book, page 109. Not that I’m counting. He’s in the book world’s youngest comic and for being one of the youngest climbers. You know for climbing Kilimanjaro. He wrote an article about it also and was given a proclamation by the Borough President of Queens and even had a day named after him. Now, he’s an EMT, saved a ten year old girl’s life this summer. He passed the NYPD test…He’s going to Iona college. He’s got a website business, and does office work for a NYC Tour Company….So it’s just like I always tell him that whatever you dream, you can do. Believing is seeing, not the other way around. Know what you want and go after it.

TMOM; And you’re a single mom, so these aren’t vacations you’re taking, right?.

FRAN CAPO: No, no, no, I mean like if I get booked for a a gig…comedy or corporate like a recent one I did in Arizona called, “Girlfriend’s Getaway”. It was a motivational talk for breast cancer survivors and it was out in Arizona because I write a weekly blog for the WB called “Fran’s World” and I also have an internet t.v. show called “Fran’s World and Welcome to It” where I do all these different things, interview people, do all of these crazy adventures etc…You can see the episodes on my website, francapo.com…anyway…so when I get hired if it’s during the summer time or spring break I say, “ I need to bring my son,” They are usually fine with it. Then I look up cool adventures out where I’m staying…my son comes and helps me sell my books after my show and then we take a day to do an adventure…In the case of Arizona…we went sand dune buggy riding in the dessert….you know over hills, past diamond back snakes and cactus.

Adventure TravelingMom Fran Capo on her first trip to Italy.

TMOM: How did you get into motivational speaking?

FRAN CAPO: Someone suggested I try it. I like giving everything a shot. So I did it and it worked because I spoke from my heart and experience. You become an expert on anything in life by doing it and being successful. Of course I always like to take things one step further. I won’t ever tell someone to try or do something if I’m not living it myself…For example… You know how you hear people saying “You can climb any mountain in life?” They are using it metaphorically and I’m like, “Hey… why don’t I actually climb the mountain and then tell them that if I a non-climber can climb the mountain so can they…I’m just an average mom. Not some super athelete.”

TMOM: Is there anything you want to do and you haven’t had the time to do yet?

FRAN CAPO: There’s never something that I don’t have the time to do. I have a saying…If you want to do something you find a way, if you don’t you find an excuse.So I section things out in my life. Like writing 10 books in five years. I say, “Capo, Right now you’re going to write this book.” Of course I have a list of other things I want to do. It’s not that I haven’t had the time to do it. It’s that I’m not up to that thing yet. And when I get up to that thing, I’ll do it.

TMOM: How can you be so sure?

FRAN CAPO: I always tell people is you have to be your own best cheerleader. Don’t depend upon other people to be your best cheerleader. I mean you can have a support system but if you don’t have the internal fortitude it won’t work. You just have to believe in yourself…and take it one day at a time…as long as each day you move closer to your goal…you will get there.Make everyday one step closer to your goals and then you have a series of good days…and then you know what…good days equal good weeks,good weeks equal good months…etc…and then you have a successful life. Just concentrate on today.

TMOM: Do you have bad days?

FRAN CAPO: Absolutely TMOM: What’s a bad day look like for you?

FRANCAPO: I cry. I get mad. And then I pray and do my gratitude: You’re still healthy, you still have a son you love. If you’re always thinking about the things you are grateful for, it’s really hard not to be in good frame of mind. I’ve had my house burned down. I’ve had parents die of cancer. We had our house almost in foreclosure. I’ve been through two divorces. So what? That’s my past. It doesn’t equal my future.

TMOM: What is your must-pack item?

FRAN CAPO: Since my mom passed away,I always carry this ring that has a rose on it, it was her ring and hername was Rose. When I’m going somewhere, I put the ring on and I say, “Come on mom. We’re going out!” That and I always carry my gratituderock. I usually have a rock in my pocket and every time I touch it I remember to always be grateful for anything that happens.

TMOM: Anything else you want to say about travel?

FRAN CAPO: I want to tell people: Don’t wait to say one day I’ll go there. Find a way to go there now. Money is the obstacle that you put in your head. You could borrow it,barter a trip, do a working trip…do whatever you want to do to get there, legal of course, don’t go hiding in the baggage compartment of the plane. The bottom line is if you have a dream, go after it. And remember 40 hours a week is too long to be doing something that you don’t like, so if you hate your job…change it. So I invite people to come to my website www.francapo.com, read my books especially Adrenaline Adventures to get ideas on really unique vacations, check out my internet TV show, and hopefully it will make them smile, laugh and be inspired to go out there and just enjoy life. Everyone has a special passion, a special talent inside,find out what it is and let it shine.

About Kim Orlando, Traveling Mom

After years of traveling every week for business, Kim Orlando sought out other moms who traveled to understand how they dealt with the guilt, the scheduling and their family relationships. Advice from the trenches made travel–and life–much easier and often much more fun. Kim realized that other traveling moms would appreciate these insights, too, and TravelingMom.com was born. Just a few years later, TravelingMom is among the largest independent family travel website with the leading travel writer network. The advice and insight of this community is sought out by national news networks, travel companies and traveling moms who need to know before they go.

She has been selected as the travel expert for Wyndham's Women on Their Way, Mom Talk Radio and has been featured in Good HouseKeeping, NY Times Travel, Forbes.com, Hannah Storm’s CBS News Blog, JuJu Chang's Moms Get Real and The Montel Williams Show.